Senator Colston
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Transport, upon notice, on 26 November 1980:

What was the scheduled time of take-off of the aircraft on 16 May 1980 referred to in answer to Question No. 3129 of the Fifty-ninth Session (see Senate Hansard, page 1421, dated 18 September 1980) and what were the details of the delays due to adverse weather conditions at Sydney, the aircraft diversions and the high passenger demand (including details of the passenger load of each aircraft).

Senator Messner
—The Minister for Transport has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

The Ansett aircraft was a repositioning flight not carrying passengers and a record of the scheduled departure time has not been kept. The aircraft was delayed in Sydney during the morning and was required in Melbourne to handle the holiday traffic the following day.

The TAA aircraft was scheduled to depart at 2200.

Sydney airport was closed due to fog until 1005 that morning, resulting in TAA diverting 6 aircraft, details of these diversions are:

Flight No.

Diverted to

Passengers

534

Canberra

144 411

Canberra

117 11

Melbourne

103 572

Canberra

124 422

Canberra

66 21

Brisbane

141

As an indication of passenger loadings, TAA transported 22,031 passengers on that day, compared with an average of 15,000 to 16,000 a day.

Ansett were forced to hold aircraft on the ground at other airports waiting for Sydney to open. One flight was diverted to Canberra, two were cancelled and nine jet operations were delayed.